


The Trouble with Assumptions

by ThaddeusBandido



Series: T Ban's Idiots in Inaba AU Fics [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Gen, Idiots in Inaba AU, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Pre-OT4, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 08:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15926690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThaddeusBandido/pseuds/ThaddeusBandido
Summary: Two new best friends have a heart-to-heart conversation, revisit the rooftop scene, and learn a little more about each other.





	The Trouble with Assumptions

**Author's Note:**

> This came together _very_ quickly... this idea has been haunting me since before I wrote A Rainy Day in Inaba, so I needed to finally commit it to writing. Eternal thanks to Mango for Idiots in Inaba, because these knifecats and their blondes are simply the best and they deserve nothing but the best.
> 
> Spoilers for Ann's Rank 9 Confidant scene, and also 12/24.

The first two weeks of his return to Yasogami High went by faster than Akira could have ever hoped for. Shiho and Morgana had eased the tension he thought would dominate his daily life. That didn't mean he still had spikes of anxiety shoot through his body whenever someone approached him—but, it was not the debilitating response he had been expecting (and nearly experienced on his first day).

 _Shiho is a goddamn treasure_ , Akira concluded as he took another small bite of his food _._

He was loitering at a table at Junes, slowly eating a steak croquette to hold the table. Thankfully, time wasn’t the only thing that felt slow on that afternoon out in the countryside; there were plenty of open tables in the food court, which meant there was no pressure on him to leave. Usually he’d wait at the flood plain to meet with Shiho after school, but today he was waiting until Shiho could get out of volleyball practice, and he had a hunch that she’d be hungry when she showed up. She was the new manager for the team, and by her account, the team consisted entirely of decent folks.

Akira had let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding when she told him.

Making a small show of enjoying every increasingly minuscule bite of his meal, Akira took a small sip of his can of TaP to wash his entree down. He grimaced—the soda was starting to go flat already. On impulse, he pulled out his phone and started scrolling through the newly-formed group chat, which contained his two favorite blonde troublemakers, his one new not-blonde best friend, and a treasure trove of award-worthy ideas—whether the award in question is a Nobel Prize or a Darwin Award depended on who’d been asked.

* * *

 

 **Ann:** I NEED A VIDEO CHAT!!!!

 **Ann:** WITH THE BOTH OF YOU COUNTRY KIDS!!!!!

 **Ann:** i want to see your faces

 **Ryuji:** i also want to see their faces??

 **Shiho:** Aww!

 **Ryuji:** i have a clock where every hour is “i miss akira and shiho” hour

 **Akira:** That’s extremely touching??

 **Akira:** But you could just make the meme instead of describing it via text, weirdo

 **Ryuji:** it’s a constant need is what i’m saying

 **Shiho:** Down, boy.

 **Ryuji:** ???

 **Akira:** Listen, Ann, you know I’m always down for a video call

 **Shiho:** Yeah! When is this happening?

 **Ann:** thursday, after school?

 **Shiho:** I have practice, but I can do a call after!

 **Akira:** Works for me

 **Ryuji:** i’ve got a shift at 777........

 **Akira:** RIP in peace, Sakamoto Ryuji

 **Shiho:** Missed a video call... it was all downhill from there...

 **Ryuji:** ASHDJKADSJ

 **Akira:** I’ll miss him

 **Ann:** LMAO

 **Ryuji:** I”M

 **Ryuji:** STILL HERE????????

 **Akira:** You can’t hear or see it but I am sniffling and shedding a single, manly tear

 **Ann:** i CAN’T believe this

 **Shiho:** It’s true, I’m staring at one.

 **Ryuji:** this is cyberbullying

 **Shiho:** Solitary.

 **Ann:** how could ANYONE let you two join forces

 **Shiho:** Tear.

 **Shiho:** Rolling down his cheek.

 **Ryuji:** i’m dead now

 **Shiho:** It’s full of pure testosterone.

 **Akira:** Right, a manly tear that would flex if it had arms

 **Akira:** You’re free on Friday though, right Ryuji

 **Ryuji:** YES

 **Akira:** We’ll make it happen, you’ve got my word

 **Ryuji:** i dunno...

 **Ryuji:** is it a manly word

 **Akira:** As my Protein Lovers training partner, you know exactly how jacked my word is

 **Ryuji:** wow

 **Ryuji:** you’re right

 **Ann:** ryuji how buff is his word???

 **Ryuji:** it’s effing ripped, washboard abs and rock hard thighs

 **Shiho:** That’s oddly specific?

 **Ann:** okay we are WILDLY off topic

 **Ann:** thursday video call with me, friday makeup video call with ryuji

 **Ann:** cool?

 **Akira:** Cool

 **Ryuji:** cool

 **Shiho:** Cool!

* * *

 

Just as he reached the end of the group chat, a school bag hit the ground across the table and Shiho flopped into the chair across the table. She greeted, “Hello, stranger.”

Akira pushed a Junes brand bento box across the table as he returned, “Hi, random person. Figured you’d be hungry.”

She shot him a look of gratitude as she ripped open the disposable chopstick package that was laid on top. “You’re a psychic, you know that?” She dove straight into eating without waiting for a response.

Akira continued talking to Shiho while she devoured the food in front of her. “I was thinking we could go to that park overlooking the town today for that video call. There’s a bus stop up there, and it won’t be nearly as loud as here.” He punctuated his proposal with an actual, normal person-sized bite of his croquette. There may not have been a lot of people in the food court, but the store speakers were blaring the same fifteen songs or so, and Akira was longing for release from that particular torment.

The bento box was half empty by the time Shiho replied, “Sure! That sounds great,” before she continued her quest to make the bento perform its best disappearing act. Akira let the comfortable silence stretch as he finished off his croquette and downed his flat soda.

They both finished their food, left the Junes food court with zero fanfare, and got on the bus to the hilltop. The bus puttered along slowly, and Akira let his curiosity get the better of him. “So, how often do you do video calls with Ann?”

Shiho was staring out the window listlessly, but perked up at the question. “Oh, daily.” She smiled to herself before she continued, “It’s one of my favorite parts of the day, hands down.”

Akira simply smiled in response. The bus came to a halt, and they hopped off and headed directly to a bench. Shiho pulled out her phone, quickly realizing a problem.

“Is there even cell service up here?”

“Uh, I think so? It’s been a while since I’ve been up here.”

“Okay, so I think this video call will look like it’s being filtered through a potato.”

Akira snickered, that bastard. “Can’t be as bad as Ryuji’s terrible, blurry phone.”

Shiho pulled a face as she hit send on the video call. “Why are his pictures weird sizes? Every picture looks like it was taken in a cave.”

“His gamer cave.”

A charming ping went off on Shiho's phone as she shot a cynical glance at Akira. “Ryuji doesn’t have a gamer cave. He still hasn’t beaten Star Forneus by himself.”

“Do you think he could beat it without cheats?”

A new voice chimed in from the speakerphone, “Not even remotely. Liking to do something doesn’t imply _skill_.”

Akira looked at the phone with a big, dumb grin. “Hi.”

Ann had an unbridled look of pure joy on her face. He hadn’t seen her smile that wide since February.

* * *

 

They talked for what felt like no time at all, but checking his watch, it had been forty minutes already. The topic bounced frequently: life at Shujin now that Futaba was enrolled, Ryuji’s workout schedule, the Yasogami volleyball squad, the real-life villain known as Mika...

“So, Ann, do you have any plans for Golden Week?” Shiho said coyly. The four of them had talked around the idea of meeting in Tokyo, but hadn’t confirmed anything yet. Akira held in a laugh at Ann’s confused look.

“I haven’t made any plans... I’m pretty sure it was you two that were scheming to come back here,” Ann retorted.

Akira took the bait. “There was this great restaurant that I wanted to take Shiho to. It’s quiet, low-key...”

“...and has the weirdest combo of specialties of any restaurant still open for business? You know I have to see it,” Shiho finished for him. They both gave a smile for the camera and Ann’s eyes started sparkling. It might have also been the video quality taking a nosedive, but both of them were willing to look past that.

“I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see you both again!! You’re both getting the most bone-crushing hugs from me and Ryuji when you get here, you can count on it.”

Akira huffed a laugh and said, “I _want_ your bone-crushing hug, but that almost sounds like a threat, coming from Ryuji. Guy could probably shatter a barrel by hugging it.” He tossed a glance to Shiho for her concurrence while talking, but what he didn’t expect to see in that split second was Shiho, smiling to herself and slightly misty-eyed, staring at the screen longingly.

After a beat and without missing a step, she snapped her gaze to Akira, having not quite completely recovered, and delivered a stone-cold truth that finally moved her face away from what Akira could only describe as _lovesick_. “Oh, I could out-hug Ryuji. I did it in middle school and I’ll do it again next week.”

Laughter bubbled out from Ann and Akira, Ann quipping, “Don’t you let him hear you say that, though. He’s still convinced he won the hugging competition, and he flexes his biceps every time it comes up.”

Akira tried not to think about Ryuji’s biceps and failed miserably.

To cover the possibility of his face betraying him, he launched himself into the conversation instead. “He flexes a lot for any reason. Anyways, we’re going to have the whole gang there on the first day back. No question. The next day, how about just the four of us? We could go to Dome Town. Or Destinyland.”

He didn’t look, but he knew there was a gigantic smile on Shiho’s face at the mention of Destinyland. He’d seen her Robin Hood pencil bag, he knew. Ann smiled devilishly, and said, “Destinyland it is. We _will_ get the fun, themed crepes while we’re there.”

A weird, quiet sound came from Ann’s side of the call, and she frowned. “I haven’t had the chance to eat yet, so I should go grab some dinner.”

Akira and Shiho both objected automatically:

“Crepes aren’t dinner, Ann—”  _“Please eat something that isn’t just cake—”_

They both stopped, stared at each other for a long second, and then laughed at each other while Ann harrumphed playfully.

Akira broke first. “Okay, Ann, go get some food. We’ll see you so soon.”

Shiho added, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Ann!”

Ann said, without thinking, “I haven’t ended the call yet and I already miss you two. I’ll see you next week! Love you both, bye!” Ann looked flabbergasted about halfway through the last sentence she said, but quickly caught herself and ended the call with a winning smile. _Not that she needed to win anything with either of us_ , Akira wisely kept to himself.

The second Ann disappeared from the screen, Akira turned to look at Shiho, who maintained the perfect image of a person wholly smitten. After glancing to make sure no one was listening in, Akira took a deep breath, and got ready to take a plunge into the deep end of a pool. He started, “Shiho, can I ask you something intensely personal, with an important, just as personal follow-up of my own just to make sure it's a fair trade?”

She visibly tensed, but then steeled herself and pocketed her phone before replying, “Go for it.”

“You love her.”

“Th—That’s not a question,” she sputtered.

Akira smiled to hide a laugh, and tried again, “Okay, but do you love her?”

Shiho gave a panicked look. “Wh-what? No, no.” She breathed deep in an effort to calm herself before continuing, “I think you two make a really good couple, a-and, I wouldn't want to get in... the way of that...” She trailed off as Akira’s look of confusion fell away, and his no-good smirk grew on his stupid face. She lost her previous train of thought. “Why are you smirking at me like that?”

“Ann and I aren't dating.”

_Oh._

“Oh.”

Shiho flushed in embarrassment, before interrogating the boy in front of her. ”Wait, why not?” She was starting to lose the fight against waving her arms at him and causing a scene. “These past few months, she would mention you in almost every other sentence!” Akira had the decency to look shocked for a second before his retort seemingly built itself.

“Do you know what every other sentence that came out of her mouth to me was about?”

Shiho wasn’t blind, but she tried not to get her hopes up as Akira built the parallel. Akira followed through when he said, “She talked about you all the time.” He started gesturing with his hands as he continued, “And she does it with this kind of _reverence_ , you know? Her day was always better when she knew she had something new to talk about with you.  That led to a lot of us thinking that you two had been dating for quite a while.”

Shiho's cheeks burned at the thought, but then her thoughts snap to specific memory. She pointed a finger at him and questioned, “But wait, what about the rooftop? You two seemed so close!”

Akira’s fond look turned melancholic. “She wanted me to be there. She was...” he trailed off as he tried to word his thoughts correctly. “Please don’t read too much into this, but she took your moving away really hard, and she wanted some emotional support. I wanted you two to have as much quality time as possible.” He paused and gave a single heartless laugh. “Remember, I thought you two were already together at that point.”

“We weren’t, though. And I knew she would, but I prepared myself for that.” Shiho frowned, and considered what she remembered of that day on the rooftop. “She definitely seemed like she was leaving a door open for you. What happened right after I left?”

Akira gave Shiho a pained expression. “I closed that door as gently as possible. I wasn’t exactly in a place to think about  romance, considering all the stress I was under. I do care for Ann, in ways more than words can express—but, even if I was interested at the time, trying to make a move on her right then would have felt...” He looked around, as if searching for a word, “...scummy. She was emotionally vulnerable, and that absolutely wasn't the right time to ask her about her feelings for you, either.”

Shiho felt emotionally drained. Not only was her assumption blown out of the water, Akira caught on frighteningly quick. _What did Ann do to deserve to have such a good friend as the boy sitting next to her?_ She figured there just might be light at the end of this tunnel.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Akira started once again, grinning gently, “Now that we have all of our cards on the table... Do you love her?”

Shiho was quiet as she stared into her hands. Akira couldn't have possibly known how long she had spent pushing away the notion that she was in love with her best friend. When the moment of truth came, when she finally stared down the barrel of that question, she didn’t want to push against her truth anymore. After a beat, she nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

Akira’s hand landed on her shoulder closest to him, and she looked at him questioningly. He gave a soft smile and said, “Thank you for trusting me.” His hand slid off into his lap as he let a deep breath out through his nose to center himself. “You’re not the only one stuck out here with a blonde crush back in Tokyo, you know.”

She croaked out a watery laugh, stood up, yanked him off the bench and shoved herself into a hug.

Shiho snickered and murmured, “I guess Ryuji was projecting the washboard abs and rock-hard thighs, then, huh?”

That shocked a rare, heaving guffaw out of Akira that was felt as much as it was heard.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Shiho broke the silence first. “I’ve never talked about any of this before, out loud. It’s nice. This is nice.”

“It’s a solidarity hug.”

Shiho snorted, feeling a large emotional weight come off her shoulders. “Are you bi?”

“Yeah. Any idea what your orientation is?”

“I don’t know. Girls? Girls are pretty.”

She felt Akira chuckle. “Well, you could always just play it by ear. It's your orientation, no one can decide that for you.” She tightened the hug a little.

Eventually, she pushed lightly on Akira to escape the hug and they sat back down.

“Do you think you’ll talk to her about it over Golden Week?”

Shiho shivered slightly before she replied, “I don’t know. I’m scared to even try.”

Akira confidently put up a wager. “I’ll talk to mine if you talk to yours.”

Shiho laughed. “That’s questionable. I don’t think he realizes what comes out of his mouth sometimes...” She trailed off, expecting a response, but didn’t get one immediately.

She saw that Akira had a faraway, concentrated look on his face that urged Shiho to ask, “What are you thinking about?”

“The consequences of breaking the friend code.”

Shiho’s face scrunched slightly in concern, but didn't respond, unsure what to expect.

Akira almost sounded wistful as he recounted, “I’m... not sure you need to worry about it being unrequited.” Before Shiho could interject, Akira pressed forward, “There was a time. During our final job as the Phantom Thieves, where we almost gave in. Everyone almost gave up. But, with a little coaxing, and a little prodding,” he smiles meaningfully at Shiho, “we each had our own reasons for dusting ourselves off and finishing the job.

“Ann’s justice was fueled by revenge, and that was what pushed her for all those months—avenging you, if you want to be dramatic. When she started spiraling, wondering if we were doing the right thing against all odds, she asked if it would’ve been better if she stayed out of it. And I only had to say one thing to her to reignite her will to fight.” He paused for breath. If he was going to break the friend code, he was going to _make it count, dammit_. “I said, ‘What about Shiho?’ And do you know what she said?” Shiho’s eyes were blown as wide as dinner plates waiting for the answer—she faintly shook her head.

“She said, ‘You’re right, I could never abandon her.’”

Shiho let out a shaky breath, thinking about the implication. With a loud sniffle and a maelstrom of emotions, she said the only words she trusted herself to say out loud, warbling, “That’s maybe the gayest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Akira was starting to hold back tears as well, but had the awareness to chortle and retort, “You’re right, and you held hands and said 'I love you' straight to her face right before you came out here.” A soft, watery chuckle escaped him. “It's impressive.”

Shiho grabbed a tissue from her bag, dabbed the collecting tears away from her eyes, and _beamed_ at Akira.

"Well, I didn't really say it _straight_ , did I?"

* * *

 

At lunch the next day, Akira heard his and Shiho’s phones ping. Knowing that one of their blondes was responsible for this, they both snagged their phones and pulled up the group chat.

**Ryuji:**

****

**Shiho:** Oh, nice work!

 **Ann:** this is how i make sure all my clocks have the right time, hth

 **Akira:** It is two days late, though

 **Ryuji:** NO IT’S NOT???

 **Ryuji:** p sure i was clear that every hour is “i miss akira and shiho” hour

Akira’s heart clenched, and a blush must have bloomed across his face, because Shiho smiled at him understandingly from across the table, kicking his shoes lightly underneath.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to marrrow for beta reading these disaster teens, and being patient while they figure out their situation!


End file.
